So, at least for the time being, Martin Scorsese’s Hugo is the talk of the Oscars; with 11 nominations, it’s the picture with the most nods. Behind it, The Artist picked up 10 and The Descendants managed five.
Hugo is nominated for two of the biggest gongs – Best Picture and Best Director – but isn’t up for anything in the acting categories. Best Actor and Actress turned up mainly predictable lists, although Demián Bichir’s nod for A Better Life is surprising – not because of the quality of the performance, but because he hadn’t been too loudly talked about in the run up to today’s announcement. It is nice to see Gary Oldman nominated in the same category for Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (although the film was shunned for Best Picture), but Michael Fassbender’s wonderful performance in Shame has been overlooked.
The rest of the performances hotly tipped for nomination in the lead acting categories are present and correct, including George Clooney for The Descendants, Jean Dujardin for The Artist, Michelle Williams for My Week With Marilyn and Meryl Streep for The Iron Lady.
In the technical categories, it’s no surprise to see Emmanuel Lubezki nominated for his cinematography on The Tree of Life, while Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 leads the charge in the visual effects shortlist. A Separation stands out as the favourite in the Best Foreign Language Film category, and has backed up its place in that list with a nomination for Asghar Farhadi’s original screenplay. Pixar’s customary berth in the Best Animated Film category is noticeable by its absence (they only had Cars 2 to offer in 2011), while Woody Allen cements a successful period by receiving a nomination for Best Original Screenplay for Midnight in Paris, which also picked up a Best Picture nod.
See below for full lists of some of the main categories. In the end, we have a Best Picture shortlist consisting of nine films (thanks to Oscar’s new voting rules) which is probably the most problematic category. No arguments over the ‘obvious’ ones (The Artist, The Descendants et al) but the presence of War Horse, The Help and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close makes one think of the films that aren’t included; such as Drive, Super 8, We Need to Talk About Kevin, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy and a few others.
BEST PICTURE
The Artist
The Descendants
Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close
The Help
Hugo
Midnight in Paris
Moneyball
The Tree of Life
War Horse
BEST DIRECTOR
The Artist – Michel Hazanavicius
The Descendants – Alexander Payne
Hugo – Martin Scorsese
Midnight in Paris – Woody Allen
The Tree of Life – Terrence Malick
BEST ACTOR
Demián Bichir – A Better Life
George Clooney – The Descendants
Jean Dujardin – The Artist
Gary Oldman – Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Brad Pitt -Moneyball
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Kenneth Branagh – My Week with Marilyn
Jonah Hill – Moneyball
Nick Nolte – Warrior
Christopher Plummer – Beginners
Max von Sydow – Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close
BEST ACTRESS
Glenn Close – Albert Nobbs
Viola Davis – The Help
Rooney Mara – The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Meryl Streep – The Iron Lady
Michelle Williams – My Week with Marilyn
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Bérénice Bejo – The Artist
Jessica Chastain – The Help
Melissa McCarthy – Bridesmaids
Janet McTeer – Albert Nobbs
Octavia Spencer – The Help
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
The Descendants – Alexander Payne and Nat Faxon &
Jim Rash
Hugo – John Logan
The Ides of March – George Clooney & Grant Heslov and Beau Willimon
Moneyball – Steven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin
Story by Stan Chervin
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy – Bridget O’Connor & Peter Straughan
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
The Artist – Michel Hazanavicius
Bridesmaids – Annie Mumolo & Kristen Wiig
Margin Call – J.C. Chandor
Midnight in Paris – Woody Allen
A Separation – Asghar Farhadi